


You came back

by aidacaroti



Series: After the War [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: But he came back, Gen, Post-Canon, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Protective Hermione, Ron left them, Weasley Family, Weasleys find out the truth, guilty ron, protective!harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 09:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15603354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aidacaroti/pseuds/aidacaroti
Summary: Post-war drabble on the toll on Ron and his family finally finding out about him leaving Harry and Hermione.





	You came back

It was four months after the final battle. Four months. People had died, been buried and flowers had already grown and died on their graves. Life didn’t stop.

It stopped for no one.

Though the three had never openly said anything, certain things had been kept between the three of them. They didn’t tell a soul of Ron’s departure. Or of the many weeks where they fell apart. They didn’t tell anyone about the loneliness, the oppression of being isolated. They didn’t tell of the food they stole, the chickens they pinched. They shared none of this. They shared only the barest of details. But, it wasn’t that they (or Hermione at least) was ashamed of these facts, for she wasn’t. She was intelligent enough to know that all of these incidents led to their survival. It led to the end of the war. And sometimes, necessary evils took place. She could rationalise. Ron had never been as rational.

Ron had spent the past months propping up Harry, protecting him from the Ministry, the press and everyone in between. Ron had spent his nights holding Harry as he sobbed, awoken from his own broken sleep by nightmares and flashbacks. When Ron wasn’t helping Harry, he was helping George. He tidied the shop, made the products and got the place ready for reopening by September. A feat in itself since George was barely functioning.

And Hermione had wrongly thought that Ron was fine. That he was coping.

On a mild Sunday evening however, she realised just how wrong she’d been.

The quiet voices soothed her, they floated over her like a safe blanket, she felt warm, comfortable and content beneath it. They were seated in the living room. Ginny was sat on the floor by the hearth, Harry’s tired head on her shoulder as they softly spoke. George sat between the sofa and the chair, on the floor, curled over himself. Mr and Mrs Weasley sat in the love seat, sharing cheese and crackers. Bill and Fleur were crushed on the single arm chair, Fleur almost sat in Bill’s lap as they softly spoke to George, trying to entice him into reluctant conversation. Hermione sat on the end of the sofa. Her head kept dropping into Ron’s shoulder. Ron was beside her, his warm body pressed into her side. Percy sat on his other side. Everything was very calm, until it wasn’t.

“Stop asking me!” Ron roared shooting to his feet suddenly, Hermione half pulled her wand before she caught herself. “You know, you all know, don’t you?” He said wildly.

“Ronald, for Merlins sake, Sit-”

“No!” Ron said furiously. “You’ve been laughing behind my back, haven’t you? You all know, I thought maybe you didn’t, but you do, don’t you?”

“Know what?” Percy almost taunted and Hermione wanted to punch him then and there.

“Ron,” she said gently.

“You know that I left them both! That I abandoned them and ran. They could’ve died! They could have been taken! I would never have known.”

Bill and Fleur inhaled sharply. They, certainly, had never spoke of Ron’s arrival to their house. They had known in those weeks how affected, damaged and broken Ron was. They were more than happy to pretend it had never happened. Harry staggered to his feet, standing beside Ron, without realising it placing his own body in front of him.

“You did what?” Ginny said, heat rising in her cheeks.

“I ran away!”

“No,” Harry said levelly, “you did not run away. We argued, all of us, we were scared, so frightened. Ron thought you were all hurt, or worse,” Harry stopped.

“But you left them?” Mrs Weasley sounded confused.

“Yes, I did.”

“But, he came back,” Hermione said fiercely. “You came back.” She stood and took his right side grasping his hand.

“But why didn’t you come here? Son?”

“I couldn’t put you all in danger, we knew you were being watched.” Ron had calmed slightly now but his back still showed his tension.

“But where did you go?” Mrs Weasley wailed.

“Ze came to uz, ov course.”

“Bill? But you never said! You knew how worried we were!”

Bill shrugged. “It was not my place to say. Ron needed a home, he needed our love and care. That’s what we gave him.”

“You left Harry and Hermione?” George whispered.

“I did.”

“Fred would’ve kicked your butt.”

“I know.”

“I’m glad you’re not dead,” George said.

“Us too.” Hermione said

**Author's Note:**

> This is from my tumblr, written years ago. I'm just trying to get everything into one place.


End file.
